Christmas Adjectives

There are many adjectives that I would use to describe Christmas. Because they are not all sweet and kind, I won't say much (don't laugh at that), just pictures with description. Deal?

Ok, so I forgot my camera for the Richey Family party. So, I'm gonna have to break our deal. I am going to describe the wonderful food and games to you. Let me tell you that my mom pulls out all the stops for this party. We eat the best food. Mom takes time to find out what each person would want to eat. Scott and Ned like hot wings with hot sauce from Wingers, Sherry loves a salad called, "The best Salad in the world" (I can totally get you the recipe, it is wonderful), I love the shrimp macaroni salad that mom makes and so on. We eat like kings. We hang out and then we play a game with presents. In the past years we have played BINGO, but this year, we played the game where you have to put on gloves and tear through 3 or 4 layers of newspaper. Oh yea and you have to roll doubles with dice and take the gloves from another person. Ned kept getting doubles and so did a few others, I never did get doubles! I don't have the magic touch when it comes to dice. Don't have me blow on your dice before you roll them in Vegas. The party is always really fun and mom goes to a ton of work to get it all ready! Thanks Mom!

Now the pictures!

Every year we eat dinner at my Grandma's house and then Santa comes. All my cousins and their children come too and it is really great to see everyone. It is a lot of work for my Grandma and I am so thankful for her and all her efforts to get the family together for the Holidays. This is as close as Abby would get to Santa. She was in tears the whole time. Through her tears she said "Tank you Santa."Abby opening the presents from Great-Grandma. She loved her Stainless steal pans to go with her new kitchen set.
Abby Getting ready to open her many presents from Sherry, Nathan, Grandpa and Grandma. She got some great stuff. Sherry got her a Barney doll, doll crib, and a ton of other things. Sherry and Abby sure have a special bond. They love each other so much.
This is a picture of the presents from my parents house. Abby got the cutest vacuum from Nathan. She didn't like the sound at first, but now I can't vacuum without her following me around and she constantly reminds me that it is her vacuum.
Abby sitting in the rocking chair that Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She is wearing the outfit that they gave her as well. I had to take this a few days later, but she loves it.
These are Abby's Christmas Jammies from Grandma. Every year we all get PJs. These were Abby's. I love getting PJs. I still have pairs from many years ago. This is great tradition that my mom has passed on to us.

This is Christmas morning. When we asked Abby if she wanted to see if Santa had come, she cried. We had to convince her to go into the living room. I guess she thought he may still be there. This is her new kitchen set! I love it. And bless Ned's heart for putting it together and in record time too.

Abby carried the Barney doll around all morning. She loves it. This is her new play food. She loved the ice cream cone. She tried to eat it. We had to quickly pretend to eat the food so she wouldn't chunk off some piece of plastic.

Abby and her stocking. That was almost as great fun as seeing the kitchen! Notice the ever present Barney doll.

This is all the loot from the whole Christmas. There is the vacuum and I must point out the Egyptian Cotton sheets that Sherry gave us. If you've never slept on this kind of sheet you are missing out. They are so soft and they are much better than my Wal-mart ones that were the cheapest ones I could find. Thanks Sher.

You'll have to admit that the words are a little less, but I have to conclude with a few thoughts. First, I need to add that we got to talk to my darling brother Brad. He is serving a mission in Brazil. He sounded great. He will be home at the end of July. Second, I need to clarify the adjectives. Christmas is full of many emotions, many circumstances and many things. While we all celebrate in different ways, we all have one central idea around this holiday: it is about family and remembering why we celebrate. I love my family, and I love Ned's too. We are very blessed to have both our families very close to us. At the end of a few crazy days, I was filled with an very deep love for my family. We have great traditions and I am very lucky to have all these wonderful things to pass on to my little family. So as there are many ways, using adjectives, to describe Christmas, the one that I would choose now would be: joyful.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Until next Christmas. I sort of kept my end of the deal. Sort of.